Meet Amadiora Emechete, Community Impact Manager at our Silver Partner Liberty Global. Amadiora is a Volunteer Coordinator, as well as an online reading volunteer. We caught up to find out more about why Liberty Global chose to partner with Chapter One, and more about Amadiora's experience of being an online reading volunteer.

What motivated your Liberty Global to partner with Chapter One?
Liberty Global first partnered with Chapter One's sister organisation in the US 7 years ago. When we launched our Community Impact programme in Europe in 2022, our goal was to create a programme that reflected our identity as a telecommunications and technology company while delivering meaningful community impact.

With digital woven into everything we do, Chapter One’s use of a virtual platform to support the community made it a natural fit for us. We initially piloted the programme in our UK offices with 10 volunteers. The programme proved to be accessible and flexible, and easy to integrate into the busy work week. We are now in our third academic year and engage around 30 volunteers annually. I can confidently say that it has become one of our most impactful programmes in the UK.

How does the partnership align with your community impact values?
Our Community Impact programme aims to make lasting impact within the communities we live in. We believe that this is accomplished when volunteering experiences are not just transformational for the community, but also for the volunteers themselves.

“Transformative Volunteering” is a concept used by Chris Jarvis from Realized Worth, and happens when volunteers connect with the “why” behind their actions; when they truly understand the difference they’re making. That sense of purpose is powerful and often contagious, inspiring deeper engagement and greater impact.

Chapter One aligns closely with this philosophy. By enabling volunteers to build a consistent, one-to-one relationship with a pupil over time, the programme creates the conditions for meaningful connection and growth — for both the child and the volunteer. This long-term approach is at the heart of our values and reinforces our commitment to purposeful, lasting community engagement.

What impact have you seen on employee engagement or company culture? What feedback have you had from your volunteers?
We have employees from all different levels and backgrounds participating in the programme. Although volunteering is done on an individual level, employees are part of a wider community, which especially comes to life during the group celebration events.

What have you found most valuable about the partnership so far?
Apart from the programme itself, which is amazing, the most valuable aspect has been being part of a community of like-minded people working in education and community impact. Over the past three years, we’ve partnered with Southern Road School, and developing a relationship with them beyond the core programme has allowed us to collaborate in a way that’s more tailored to the school's specific needs.

Amadiora with teachers from Southern Road Primary School and Chapter One Senior Programme Manager Ateeka Meer at the Chapter One Partner, Volunteer and School Recognition Awards 2024

Would you recommend the programme to other people?
Without a doubt, becoming a partner of Chapter One is extremely easy. The support from their dedicated Corporate Partnerships Team makes the onboarding process smooth. They are proactive in helping recruit volunteers—offering everything from templates to strategic brainstorming on how to reach as many people as possible. Our involvement in the programme for three academic years would not have been possible without their impact reporting and communications support, which allow us to translate our volunteers’ efforts into a compelling story. This enables us to clearly show the value of our volunteers’ work and makes it easy to explain why we continue to support the programme year after year.

As well as coordinating the team of Liberty Global volunteers, you are yourself a Chapter One online reading volunteer. What motivated you personally to volunteer?
When I was just learning how to read, I remember finding it difficult and getting frustrated. With the help of parent volunteers in school, I was able to increase my reading skills and once I became a confident reader, a whole new world opened for me. I became that girl reading books in the bathroom during family gatherings because I just couldn’t wait to know what would happen in the next chapter. I believe every child deserves this magical world where their imagination can travel to unlimited places. And of course, reading is also essential for their education. Being able to support a child on both those levels is exactly what motivates me to read with two pupils every week.

Have there been any standout moments?
It’s hard to pinpoint just one standout moment—every session brings its own small breakthrough. One of my favourites is when one of my pupils reads a word aloud with the wrong phonics and then says, “I have no idea what that means!”

Recently, one of my pupils read the word “be” as “beh”. When I explained the correct pronunciation, I could almost hear the click as it made sense to her. Suddenly, she understood that the same rule applies to “he”, “me”, “she”.

It may seem like a small thing, but moments like these are powerful—one word unlocks many and you can see their confidence grow with that.

What does volunteering with Chapter One give you personally and professionally?
Despite volunteering being virtual, taking time each week to do something directly in the community helps me feel more connected and aware of the country I live in. As someone who wasn’t born and raised in the UK, I’ve found I need to be a bit more intentional about creating that sense of belonging; volunteering with the local community really supports that.

Being part of a child’s reading journey also gives me insight into what it’s like to learn how to read in English. It helps me relate more closely to the English school experience, which strengthens both my personal and professional connections.

And because English isn’t my first language, teaching a pupil how to read actually helps me improve my own understanding of English grammar, which has been surprisingly helpful in everyday life.

How can companies get involved in Chapter One?

Chapter One’s virtual, time-efficient, flexible model for volunteering will enhance your company’s employee value proposition, whilst fulfilling CSR or social value commitments around education, social mobility and inclusion. Employees can:

- volunteer online directly from their desks with no travel

- make a direct impact on the lives of children from disadvantaged communities

- support local communities across the UK

- improve their own well-being by helping others

- reconnect with your company’s social purpose

If you’re interested in joining us, we’d love to hear from you! You’ll find out who we currently work with on our partners’ page. You can contact us here or email sarah.taylor@chapterone.org.